Getting the APK out of an app you already have
An installed app lives as one or more APK files in a system folder. You cannot browse there directly, and Android provides a supported route for an app to read its own and others' package files. That makes archiving straightforward, and worth doing for anything you would be annoyed to lose.
Why keep a copy
- Apps that might be removed from the store
- The last version that supports an old phone
- Apps that stopped being updated
- Anything you paid for outside a store
- A build you have verified and trust
- Apps you rarely open
- Anything that only works with a live server
- Apps updated weekly, where the archive ages fast
- System apps, which will not install elsewhere
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Extracting with an app
Several tools list your installed apps and save the package file to storage. They need no special permission beyond storage access, because reading package files is a supported operation.
Its app manager lists installed packages and saves any of them as an APK, including handling split packages properly.
Has the same feature in a simpler form, and it is easier to find.
Also lists installed apps and copies them out, and its two-pane view makes moving the result somewhere useful quicker.
- Open the app manager section Not the file browser. It is a separate tab in each of these.
- Find the app and choose the save or extract action The result lands in your Downloads or a folder the tool names.
- Check whether it produced one file or several Modern apps are split packages, and a single base APK will not install on its own.
- Move it off the phone An archive on the device it protects is not an archive.
The split package problem
Most apps installed from the Play Store today are split: a base APK plus separate files for your architecture, your screen density and your language. Extracting only the base gives a file that installs and then crashes.
| What you get | Will it install elsewhere? |
|---|---|
| A single APK from an older or simple app | Yes |
| Base APK only from a split app | It installs and crashes at launch |
| All splits saved together as an APKS or XAPK | Yes, with a bundle installer |
| All splits as loose files | Yes, if installed together in one session |
Tools that understand splits offer to save the whole set as a bundle. That is the option to take, and it is the difference between an archive that works and one that does not.
The computer route
With USB debugging enabled, a computer can list the package paths for any installed app and pull the files directly. It is more reliable than any app for split packages, because it copies every path the system reports rather than guessing.
It is also the route that works when the app you want to archive is one you cannot open, such as a preinstalled app that has been disabled. Turn USB debugging back off when you are done.
Use a file manager's app manager, save the whole split set rather than the base alone, and move it off the phone.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need root to extract an APK?
No. Reading package files is supported for ordinary apps.
Will the extracted APK install on another phone?
Yes, if you captured every split and the architecture matches. A base-only extract will not.
Can I extract a paid app and share it?
Extracting your own copy is one thing; distributing it is copyright infringement and this is not a way around paying for software.
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This is not a rivalry. Each does something the other cannot.
You are not buying encryption. You are buying an operator whose income does not depend on you.
For a plain ZIP either works. For a split, password-protected archive, only one does.
